1. Field of Invention
This hand-activated brake assembly relates to foot-mounted wheeled vehicles. The most emphasis is placed on in-line roller skates due to their popularity.
2. Description of Prior Art
In-line skates allow users great freedom of personal movement. These skates provide a nonpolluting and quiet means for transportation, fitness and fun.
The number-one question in-line skaters have is: "How do I stop these things?" In-line skating is thrilling. But when you can't control your speed, the thrill can have detrimental consequences. The number-one cause of skate accidents is the inability to control speed. High speeds can be attained by beginners.
Consequentially, many beginning in-line skaters fall often and may lose interest in the sport, unable to attain braking proficiency. This has made many new skaters reluctant to use in-line skates, store them away or return them for a refund. This has also damaged the reputation of in-line skating. Much of the public and media considers the sport unsafe and insane.
These problems associated with ineffective skate brakes must be solved in order to allow in-line skating to become a reputably safe as well as an enjoyable sport.
Inventing an effective and practical device for slowing and stopping skates has always been challenging. There is only a small amount of space to place skate brakes, unlike other vehicles where limited space is not a major concern. In-line skate brakes cannot protrude anywhere on the inside of the skate because it would scrape upon the ground during leg strokes and could easily interfere with the other skate.
In-line skate brakes should use the direct power of the skater's hand. Direct hand pressure to activate the brake will allow the skater to use the total body to maintain the desired balance at all times when braking. The brakes should not use indirect hand pressure with cables to activate the brake. If the brake is mechanically activated, it should have an emergency brake which can be used in the event of a malfunction in the first brake used.
In-Line Skating Basics (1996) by Cam Millar describes that "If at any time you feel off-balance or out of control on your skates, bring your hands to your knees. By doing this, you make sure that your knees are slightly bent and that your upper body is in a slightly forward position. This will prevent you from falling backwards. A beginner's stance is hands on knees. Skaters should keep their hands on their knees while gliding. Keep your knees bent at all times when skating downhill. Bring your hands to your knees, stay low, and try to use your brake." It is obvious that the desired skate braking system should be located at the user's knees for activation because this is where skaters should put their hands immediately upon a need for braking or control. This will also allow for a lower center of gravity and prevent any fall backwards.
Skate brakes should offer body movement without the interference of cables, levers, belts and straps above the knees. Cable brakes take more time and skill to install. Bulky parts make cable brakes expensive to the consumer. Brake pad wear affects the performance of cable, cuff-activated and heel brakes. Cable and other hand held brakes generally do not allow skaters to wear standard protective wrist guards.
The brake should not require the user to hold any type of device in the hand while not engaging the brake. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,312,135 (1994), 5,388,673 (1995) and 5,653,468 (1997) show rods that must be constantly held, severely restricting body movement and balance.
Many attempts have been made to market a skate brake that slows one or more skate wheels. This is the wrong approach. There is not enough wheel surface contact with the ground to brake effectively without quickly stripping the vulnerable wheels. When in-line skate wheels are dragged sideways for a skilled "T-stop" the wheels wear quickly and unevenly. As a result, these expensive wheels must be replaced more often and more time is needed to change them. These methods for braking the skate's wheels quickly make random flat spots on the wheels, creating a bumpy and dangerous ride. Braking the wheels gently to avoid flat spots on the wheels will not provide enough braking power to safely and ideally control speed.
The most widely used skate brake is the standard heel brake. It requires the skater to shift the weight of the non-braking foot, thrust the braking foot forward, and glide on the opposite foot all while re-shifting body weight to the braking foot to engage the ground with the brake pad of the braking foot. Sound confusing? It is, especially in practice. It is like a golf swing. You have to do a lot of things right--all at once. According to Popular Mechanics Magazine, "this method has serious drawbacks and does not deliver genuine stopping power." The required pivot arc forces the skater to jeopardize balance in order to apply the brake. If not precisely mastered, the skater will lose control and spin. But that's not all. As the brake pad wears, the required pivot arc increases. This further complicates balance.
The longer the wheel frame on any skate, the more problematic the standard heel braking technique becomes. A longer frame such as those found on speed and fitness skates is difficult to pivot on the rear wheel. It becomes more like trying to pivot a ski. Consequently most speed skaters do not or cannot use the standard heel brake. The desired brake does not require this pivot and can be used on fitness and speed skates.
When skaters pivot a toe up and a heel back, they do not use a strong muscle group. They use a weak leg muscle group. The desired brake should use stronger arm muscle groups where more energy is available when legs get tired from skating a length of time. Skaters can skate for a longer time due to less leg stress with such a brake.
Because the standard heel brake requires the skater to "ride" on the brake with all but one wheel off the ground, it is particularly dangerous on rough surfaces, bumps and gravel. The desired brake can be more safely activated on these surfaces.
The cuff-activated brake, currently dominated by one company, is activated by thrusting the equipped skate forward and putting pressure against the cuff (upper portion) of the one skate. This causes discomfort due to the pressure applied against the user's upper ankle. The brake is problematic because it's brake requires the user to hyper-extend a knee, especially as the brake pad wears. Hyper extending a knee can easily aggravate the knee if it is less than strong, This type of brake must have a brake pad placed dangerously close to the ground at all times and therefore can be unintentionally activated. As the brake pad wears, the skater must slide the braking foot farther forward. Therefore adjustments are often needed. The desired skate brake should not require inconvenient adjustments and should not demand unhealthy knee extensions.
Another disadvantage of both the cuff-activated and standard heel brakes is the problem of brake pad wear while descending long hills. As the brake pad wears the skater must constantly compensate for the pivot arc or the sliding of the braking foot. This is a major safety hazard when descending long hills because the user cannot adjust the brake pad if equipped with a cuff-activated brake while skating as the brake pad wears. The skater cannot replace the standard heel brake while skating as the brake pad wears. As a result the brake could fail when it is needed the most. The desired skate brake will never require any adjustments to compensate for brake pad wear for safety and convenience reasons.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,924 (1994) Richards, Sr. et. al. shows in its first embodiment a heel-activated braking system for in-line skates that is activated by tilting the equipped skate to release a normally compressed spring system that pushes a braking pad to the ground.
There are many problems with the first embodiment. In order to activate the brake, the skater must pivot the braking foot. Thus the brake has the same problems associated with other heel-activated brakes such as the awkward pivot arc, steps to be proficient at and raising wheels off the a ground.
In order to deactivate the brake the skater must come to a complete stop, squat down and reach behind the skate to grasp the hand knob, pivot the foot, lifting the front wheels off the ground to compress the spring and insert a flat rod into another rod slot. The brake is complex and difficult to manufacture and/or retrofit onto existing skates. Brake pad wear increases the required pivot arc for activation.
There are many problems with the second embodiment of the patent of Richards Sr., et al. There is a great risk that the skate will be lifted from the rear when the skater pulls on the cable. This would cause the skater to lose balance control as the rear wheels lift off the ground. Braking power is increased in conjunction with how hard the skater pulls up on the handle. The harder the cable is pulled, the more the rear wheels lift off the ground; therefore optimum braking power cannot be achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,599 (1997) Visger et al. shows a hand-activated braking system that includes a semi-rigid shaft. The shaft is pulled upwardly for activation. This has the following serious problems: Like the Richards, Sr. et al. device described above, pulling upwards produces more stress upon the fingers than if the hand were pushing downwardly. A bulky hand knob is required. Braking power is limited because as the user pulls upwardly, the rear of the skate is also lifted because the axle is pulled upon. This is very dangerous. The system is designed for minimum ground clearance; therefore a larger, longer wearing brake pad cannot be used. The system does not have an automatic means for retraction and can therefore drag upon the skating surface. A means for retraction would cause the frontal area to be dangerously close to the skating surface.
Many patents show hand-activated cable-assisted skate brakes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,718 (1996) describes a system, like all other cable-assisted brakes, intended for the sole purpose of cable assistance where the user inconveniently routes a long cable and band grip up his or her body. It is not intended for use with a rod that would provide direct hand pressure to the movable brake pad. It is permanently confined to the skate and is difficult to retrofit onto other skates.
Structurally complicated solutions have been proposed. They require the use of many parts and are difficult to industrialize. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either in combination or singly, describes the structure, function and result of the instant hand-activated brake and method claimed.